


Into the Dark

by Nation_Ustria



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Addiction, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Crimes & Criminals, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Good Big Brother Kai, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Lloyd Garmadon Angst, Lloyd Garmadon Needs Therapy, Lloyd Garmadon Needs a Hug, Mild Blood, Oni Lloyd, Oni Lloyd Garmadon, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Post The Tournament of Elements, Pre Possesion, Rating is Mostly for Safety, Recovering Alcoholic Kai, The Great Devourer's Venom, This isn’t actually as dark as it looks, clean
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28806726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nation_Ustria/pseuds/Nation_Ustria
Summary: Lloyd Garmadon is many things—the Green Ninja, Destiny's Chosen—but beyond that, he's a sixteen(?)-year-old who really needs a break. After what should have been one of the best days of Lloyd's life goes terribly wrong, Lloyd discovers something about himself that terrifies him—he may be the Green Ninja and all of those other things, but he's also the son of Lord Garmadon, and Lloyd never purged the venom from his own blood. Thankfully, the amount he inherited from Lord Garmadon is so small that it's easy to bury the occasional "evil" impulse—at least, it is until Lloyd is alone, vulnerable, and hurting. When he finally gives in, he only does something small, but he quickly discovers the effect that giving in to the venom's influence has on him: it makes him feelgood, giving him a rush like he's never experienced. Soon, he's giving into the impulses willingly to get that rush—but as the venom's influence over him gets stronger, it starts drawing out a different, darker biological side of him that he never knew he had.Meanwhile, Kai's worried about his baby brother—he knows the signs of addiction when he sees it, being a recovering alcoholic himself. But what, exactly, has Lloyd has gotten himself into?
Relationships: Cole & Lloyd Garmadon & Kai & Nya & Jay Walker & Zane, Lloyd Garmadon & Kai
Comments: 9
Kudos: 43
Collections: The_Newbie's Ninjago Fanfic Collection





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo I got the idea for this fic from that one scene with the Mirror of Fears? I'm not entirely sure how that turned into this. Anyways, while this fic has darker/more mature themes, it's not going to be super dark. A lot of things are going to happen in the dark, though, because most of the scenes are going to happen during nighttime. Lloyd is my precious cinnamon roll child who is way too traumatized and who I somehow like to traumatize more in order to get him to actually face his problems, so yeah.  
> I'll update this fic as I write more, so that may be somewhat inconsistent.  
> Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so some important info just so that things make sense: this takes place after the Tournament of Elements and before Possession, and as it’s a divergence from canon Possession isn’t going to happen. This starts about six weeks after the end of Tournament.  
> Also, Lloyd has always had green eyes and appeared entirely human in this world (so no mini-fangs or anything).

_Lloyd jumped, springing from pole to pole as he desperately tried to keep ahead of the figures that were chasing him. Every time he glanced back to see if he’d gotten away, there were closer, but he could never make out exactly what they were—just their glowing red eyes._

_Lloyd stumbled, pitching forward and not quite landing on the next pole. He managed to grab the edge with the fingertips of one hand, but he was hanging, dangling over an infinite darkness as the figures closed in. Lloyd tried to pull himself up, but his muscles were burning._

_“Useless.”_

_Lloyd flinched—then cried out as his grip slipped._

_“Failure.” The figures’ voices were rough and echoing, reminding Lloyd of the Overlord far too much for his liking._

_“Weak,” another figure spat. They were prowling on the poles around him, looking down on him with hungry eyes._

_Lloyd tried to pull himself up again, but it didn’t work. His muscles were screaming with exhaustion, his heart pounding in his ears._

_He was going to die._

_“You could be stronger, though,” one of the figures said contemplatively._

_Lloyd’s attention snapped to the figure that had spoken. That . . . was not usually something he heard a lot._

_“Yes, you could be much stronger,” another figure crooned._

_“Strong.”_

_“Powerful.”_

_“Dominant.”_

_“Unstoppable.”_

_Oh. It was the “come to the dark side” talk. Lloyd would have rolled his eyes if he didn’t feel like doing so would send him to his death._

_“Choose,” the figures hissed. “Choose to be weak, or choose to be strong.”_

_One of the figures bounded onto the pole Lloyd was hanging from. Lloyd stared up at it in surprise—it was completely made of living shadow, excepting the glowing red eyes._

_“Come with us, and choose to be strong,” the figure said, holding out a claw-tipped shadow-hand._

_Hah. As if._

_“Never,” Lloyd spat._

_Then he let go._

_He fell, down and down and down, and then he was slowing, the darkness around him turning cold._

_“The green ninja?” Pythor’s voice echoed out of the darkness, sneering. “You’re just a scared little boy.”_

_“You?” another voice asked. Lloyd couldn’t place this one. “What’s someone like you going to do against_ that _?”_

_“You are a fool to defy me,” the Overlord’s voice snarled._

_Lloyd rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he hovered in the dark._

_“Leave me alone—you’re nothing but a nuisance!” It was Kai’s voice. Lloyd flinched—he remembered when he’d said this. It’d been back when he was a kid, when he was pranking his brothers without end. Well, they hadn’t been his brothers yet, then._

_“Go away, Lloyd.” Cole’s voice, full of venom._

_“You are entirely insufferable!” That was Zane._

_“You little twerp, how could you?” Jay._

_“Leave me alone, you jerk!” Nya._

_“Do you_ actually _think you know what you’re doing?” Cole._

_“How could you?!” Jay._

_“You’re an idiot if you think that’s going to work.” Kai._

_Lloyd covered his ears as the voices continued, but it didn’t help._

_“What, because you think someone could stand being around you for more than five seconds without throwing up?” Kai again._

_Shut up._

_“Maybe we’d be better off if you weren’t leading us.” Cole._

_Shut up._

_“My calculations indicate that we would stop getting into these awful messes if we stopped spending time with you.” Zane._

_“Shut up!” Lloyd screamed—_

—and he was jerked awake by Jay bouncing on the end of his bed.

“Guess! What! Day! It! Is!” Jay exclaimed.

“It’s ‘let us go back to sleep’ day,” Kai groaned from across the room.

“I believe Jay is referring to the fact that today is Lloyd’s birthday,” Zane said cheerily. He was already standing by the closet, still in his pajamas but with a set of his casuals hanging over one arm.

“Cake?” Cole asked, tumbling out of bed.

Lloyd blinked at them. He felt weird. He’d obviously been dreaming about something, but he couldn’t really remember what. It had left a heavy feeling in his chest, though, but that was quickly being replaced by a mixture of amusement—mostly at Jay—and excitement.

It was his birthday!

“There’ll be cake if Lloyd wants there to be cake,” Kai groaned, climbing out of bed.

Cole turned to Lloyd, giving him his best puppy eyes. They weren’t very good.

Lloyd rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’ll have a cake.”

“Woohoo!” Cole cheered.

“Would you prefer a store bought or homemade cake, Lloyd?” Zane asked.

Lloyd considered for a moment. “Could you make that confetti cake you made a while back?” he asked tentatively.

Zane smiled. “Of course.”

“So what d'ya want to do today, green bean?” Kai asked, slinging his arm over Lloyd’s shoulders.

“We could go to Mega Monster amusement park,” Jay suggested, bouncing like a puppy. “Oh! Or to the arcade, I think they have some new games, or to Doomsday Comix, or to see Borg, he might have something cool you could do, or somewhere else entirely or—”

“Easy there, motormouth,” Cole interrupted. “Let him think.” He turned to Lloyd. “I vote somewhere with good food, but it’s your birthday.”

“It is completely Lloyd’s choice,” Zane agreed.

“Just choose somethin’ good,” Kai said, grinning down at him.

Lloyd weighed his options. “How about Doomsday Comix first?” he decided. “We can stop for breakfast at that pancake place Cole has been wanting to go to on the way.”

“Sounds great to me,” Kai said. The others chorused their agreement, and then everyone was going in every direction to get ready for the day. Zane slipped behind a screen to get changed while Kai made a beeline for the shower, Cole yelling after him, “Don’t take forever! I’m starving!”

“Hi starving,” Jay joked. Cole shot him a glare, then started digging out a set of casuals from their shared—and packed to bursting—closet. 

Lloyd let his brothers finish ransacking the closet before he chose his own outfit—jeans, a white t-shirt and his favorite green jacket—which meant that he ended up being the last one in the room. He changed quickly, throwing his pajamas in the dirty laundry bin.

" _Weak_."

Lloyd turned, startled, but no one was there. After a moment he shook his head. He'd probably just imagined it—either that or one of Jay's gadgets was freaking out again.

As Lloyd left their bedroom, he felt a smile creep onto his face. Today was gonna be great.


	2. Chapter 2

“Guys, just stop and _ask for directions_ ,” Nya said in exasperation. They’d been flying around on their dragons for almost an hour as they tried to find that pancake place. Nya had initially hitched a ride with Kai, but after the fourth instance of “I _swear_ it was on this street!” she’d decided to ride with Lloyd instead.

“Or better yet, look up the address,” Nya added.

Lloyd was starting to feel the same way she was, but the other four immediately protested.

“We _have_ to find it ourselves,” Jay insisted.

“It has to be around here somewhere,” Kai agreed.

“We can’t give up now, not after searching for so long!” Cole added.

Then it was Zane’s turn. “I agree, we must see this through.”

Nya groaned. Lloyd facepalmed—and accidentally sent his dragon into a dive, causing Nya to latch onto him with a yelp.

“Sorry!” Lloyd exclaimed, straightening out. “I’m still not really used to—” The buildings they had started diving towards finally registered. “Hey, that was it!”

“What?”

“You saw it?”

“But it’s farther east—”

“Shut up, Kai, if he says he saw it then he saw it.”

Lloyd circled his dragon around, gently landing on the sidewalk in front of the Priyah’s Pancakes. He made sure that Nya had dismounted before he dissolved his dragon, landing with a crouch.

“Okay, those are really useful,” Nya said.

Lloyd grinned. “Better than mechs?”

Nya hesitated. “Nooo . . .”

Lloyd raised his eyebrows.

“Fine, yes, the dragons are better than mechs,” Nya admitted. “Happy?”

“Yep,” Lloyd said, flashing her a smile as their brothers landed on the sidewalk around them.

“Who’s ready to _eat!_ ” Cole exclaimed.

“I think we all are, at this point,” Nya commented dryly.

“We didn’t take _that_ long,” Kai countered.

Zane cleared his throat. “Seventy-three minutes have passed since we left the _Bounty_.”

“O-kay, maybe we did,” Kai amended.

“Let’s go eat, guys,” Lloyd said, steering them towards the doors. Seriously, how was _he_ the youngest one? Thankfully, Nya helped, so it didn’t take too long to get inside.

Things didn’t go so well from there, though.

“What do you mean, you’re full?” Kai demanded, glaring at the man at the front desk.

“It means exactly what it sounds like it means,” the man replied evenly. “Unless you have a reservation, we can’t seat you.”

“But—”

“Kai,” Lloyd said quietly, putting his hand on his shoulder. “It’s fine. We’ll just go somewhere else.”

“We’re very sorry for the inconvenience,” the man behind the desk said kindly.

Nya sighed. “No, you’re fine.”

They ended up buying some sort of breakfast biscuits from a street vendor as they made their way towards Doomsday Comix. Lloyd was just about to take the first bite of his when he tripped, fumbling the biscuit—which landed in a puddle of water.

For a long moment Lloyd just stared at it.

“Oof,” Cole said, wincing in sympathy. “Sorry, bud. I’d offer you mine, but.” He spread his empty hands.

“You can share mine, Lloyd,” Jay said, tearing his in half. 

“You don’t need to—” Lloyd started to protest.

“Nonsense,” Kai interrupted. “You’re the birthday boy, green bean. Take this, too.” He held out the rest of his, which was a little more than half. Nya gave Lloyd half of hers as well, winking. Zane simply watched with amusement—apparently his new titanium body didn’t really have a sense of taste, so he’d opted to not get anything. It wasn’t like he needed the food, anyway.

Lloyd begrudgingly accepted. Each of them had gotten a different flavor of biscuit, so it was kinda fun to have several to try. He still mourned his caramel-flavored one, though.

They finally reached Doomsday Comix.

And it was closed.

“Seriously?” Cole exclaimed at the same moment Kai said, “Aw, c’mon!”

“This is indeed unfortunate,” Zane said.

Jay was pouting behind him, glaring at the closed sign like it had kicked a puppy.

“You sure you haven’t been cursed, Lloyd?” Nya asked, glancing at him.

“Not that I know of,” Lloyd answered. There was a weight in his gut that hadn’t been there earlier—he’d _really_ been looking forward to coming here.

“Well, what do we do now?” Cole asked.

There was a sudden squeal. They all turned towards the sound reflexively—and discovered that it had come from a teenage girl. She was sprinting across the street, dodging the cars as a furious boy shouted after her for running into traffic.

“You’re Lloyd Garmadon!” the girl squealed as she bounced up onto the sidewalk.

Lloyd blinked at her, taking a moment to recover. “Yeah?”

“You’re my favorite ninja!” the girl exclaimed. She started babbling about different things that she admired about him—at least that’s what Lloyd thought she was talking about, he couldn’t really be sure. He made eye contact with each of his siblings as subtly as he could, sending each of them a _help me_. Unfortunately, they were all too amused to come to his rescue. 

“Are. You. _Insane?_ ” the boy who’d been yelling after the girl said as he puffed, jogging up to them. His face was red, evidently from running all the way to the crosswalk at the end of the block. After taking a few moments to catch his breath, he glared at the girl. “You could’ve been _killed!_ ”

“No,” the girl said defensively. “Lloyd was here. He would’ve saved me before that happened.”

Lloyd felt like he’d just been punched in the gut. She’d expected him to _what?_ Yeah, he was fast, but not fast enough to save someone who threw themselves into traffic on the opposite side of the street.

His siblings were staring at her with dumbfounded expressions.

“He couldn’t have saved you, he’s just a kid!” the boy snapped.

“Yes he could, he’s the Green Ninja!”

“Miss,” Lloyd gently tried to interject. He wasn’t prepared for the girl to spin on him and demand, “You could, couldn’t you?”

“Uh, well—I’d certainly try,” Lloyd hedged.

That obviously wasn’t the answer she’d been expecting. She froze, her eyes going wide—then she slowly looked back at the cars driving by.

After a long moment, the girl turned back to him—and slapped him, _hard_. 

Lloyd grunted as starts burst across his vision.

“Hey!” Kai exclaimed as cries of outrage sounded from each of Lloyd’s siblings. But by the time Lloyd’s vision had cleared, Nya had the girl in a headlock, her fist twisted into her long hair.

“Don’t you _dare_ blame him for your idiocy,” she growled. Then she half-shoved half-threw the girl in the direction of the boy.

The boy grabbed the girl’s hand, muttering something to her as he dragged her away. She kept shooting glares back at Lloyd as they left, but Lloyd barely noticed—he was too busy trying to process what had just happened, the left side of his face smarting painfully.

“What. The. Heck.” Jay said.

“I believe we just met the definition of ‘psycho’,” Zane said.

“You alright, Lloyd?” Nya asked, still growling slightly.

Lloyd nodded mutely, but Kai stepped towards him, hooking one finger under his chin so he could turn Lloyd’s head to see better. “Yeah, that’s gonna bruise.”

“So, that was a fangirl?” Cole asked, staring in the direction the girl had gone with an expression of disgust.

“More like a fan _demon_ ,” Lloyd corrected. “That was . . .”

“Something else,” Kai finished for him.

“Okay, so I vote that we go ask Sensei for some sort of tea to get rid of our bad luck,” Jay said. “Because honestly, at this point things are getting _weird_.”

“Yeah, I second that,” Cole said.

“Thirded,” Kai agreed.

“‘Thirded’ isn’t a thing, Kai.”

Kai rolled his eyes at his sister. “Whatever you say.”

Lloyd was staring at his feet, desperately trying to ignore the tears that were pricking the back of his eyes. Today was supposed to be a _good_ day.

“Hey there,” Kai said softly, pulling him into a one-armed side hug. “We’ll just take a tea stop with sensei, just in case—because _something_ weird is definitely going on—and then we’ll get to you having the best birthday ever.”

Lloyd leaned against him, burying his face in his shoulder.

Jay sighed dramatically. “Well, I was saving these to give to you later, but I suppose now’s a good a time as ever.” 

There was the distinctive crinkling of a candy bag, and Lloyd looked up. “Candy?”

Jay was wagging the biggest bag of chocolate-covered soft caramels that Lloyd had ever seen—seriously, where had he even _kept_ that—in front of him with a grin.

“Happy Birthday, Lloyd!” Jay said cheerfully as he passed the bag over. Lloyd carefully opened it, digging out one of the tinfoil-covered pieces and slipping the wrapper off before popping it in his mouth.

“‘Candy’?” Nya parroted in amusement. “What are you, four?”

Lloyd blushed—then stuck his tongue out at her, just to make her laugh. It worked.

“Right,” Kai said, releasing Lloyd from the side-hug. “Back to the _Bounty_ it is.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So once again, for this fic, Lloyd's natural eye color is, and always has been, green

Lloyd settled his chin on his knees, blinking back tears. The _Bounty_ ’s furnace rumbled quietly in front of him, the mess of pipes and wires that made up the back creating a chaotic sort of pattern. Lloyd traced the lines with his eyes until the colors blurred together, tears finally spilling down his cheeks.

They had barely gotten back to the _Bounty_ when one of the alarms had gone off. Next thing Lloyd knew he was coming up with a plan to apprehend several armed robbers at Ninjago City’s largest bank. They’d taken hostages, which had made everything a thousand times more complicated. Then the police had tried to interfere when they were halfway through the plan, and several of the hostages had been _shot_ barely a dozen feet in front of Lloyd—thankfully they were all still alive, but some of them were in critical condition. And then once that fiasco had been over, Lloyd and his siblings had all been dragged into talking to dozens of reporters. One of them was apparently related to one of the hostages that had been hurt, because he started screaming in their faces. 

After that they’d had to file reports for the police, not to mention stitch each other up—thankfully they were mostly okay—and by that point, I’d been nearly two in the morning.

Lloyd’s birthday was over.

Now it was grandfather knows how early in the morning, and Lloyd was hiding in the furnace room like a child.

 _It’s not a big deal,_ Lloyd tried to tell himself. So his birthday was a bust, but at the end of the day, everyone was okay. He should be happy—or at least content—with that.

But he wasn’t.

 _This is stupid,_ Lloyd thought, scrubbing at the tears on his face. _It’s not like I’m not gonna have another birthday._

But this was the first. The first actual birthday he was ever going to have. Birthdays hadn’t been a thing at Darkley’s, age was just another number on your profile sheet, nothing special. The first birthday Lloyd had had with the ninja had been the day of the Tomorrow Tea incident—Destiny had a _terrible_ sense of humor—and the next one had been just after the whole Digital Overlord disaster, after they’d lost Zane and the team had split. This time, though, there wasn’t some big baddie to fight, and everyone was here—well, almost everyone, but the rest of them were together. He was finally going to have an actual birthday, even if he didn’t know his exact age anymore (though Zane had figured out that he was most likely sixteen, give or take a few months, so they’d decided it was his sixteenth birthday). 

It was supposed to be a _good_ day.

Lloyd raised his head, resting it against the wooden wall as he stared up at the ceiling. Why him? Why did it always _have_ to be him?

 _Because Destiny chose you,_ Mom’s voice echoed in his head.

Lloyd growled under his breath. Screw destiny. Couldn’t he have a break at least _once_ in his life?

No, he shouldn’t . . . he shouldn’t think like that. Being the green ninja was both an honor and a privilege.

 _Is it, though?_ a voice in the back of his mind asked.

Lloyd froze. That was . . . not his voice. Except it was. But it was twisted, almost . . . garbled.

What . . . ?

 _Is it really a privilege?_ the voice hissed. _Or is it a curse?_

Lloyd reflexively tried to counter that, but the events of the day flashed across his mind. 

_“Are you sure you’re not cursed, Lloyd?” Nya asked._

_Why was it_ always _him?_

“Shut up,” Lloyd muttered.

 _But you know it’s true,_ the voice insisted.

Lloyd shook his head, pressing a hand to his face. He seriously needed to get some sleep.

Standing, Lloyd wiped the rest of the tears from his face.

“Tomorrow will be better,” he murmured. He waited for the voice to reply, to try to contradict him. It was only when it didn’t that Lloyd realized that he was having a one-sided conversation with himself.

It was definitely time to go to bed.

Lloyd maneuvered around the furnace, careful not to accidentally brush the hot metal. The hallway was darker than the furnace room had been, but the little lamps on the walls lit things enough for him to see. He made his way to the bathroom, squinting as he turned on the light.

The toothpaste tube was empty again, no surprises there. Lloyd started digging through the drawers for a new one.

When he didn’t find one in the top drawer like usual, he moved to the next one down, habitually yanking it a bit when it snagged—seriously, they should have fixed that forever ago—and started scanning. This drawer was neater than the one above it, though Lloyd still had to shift some things around—wait a minute.

Lloyd fished out a small, blue stuffed animal from under a box that had been placed over it protectively. It was Mister Cuddlywomp.

Jay kept him in _here?_

Lloyd tilted his head as he looked at the stuffed animal, not for the first time trying to figure out what type of animal it was actually supposed to be. Even though he now had a much better view than the previous ones he’d had when the stuffed animal was half-hidden in Jay’s blankets, he still had _no_ clue.

A dinosaur?

Lloyd moved to put it back, but then an idea popped into his head. What if he . . . moved it? Or better yet, got rid of it all together? Watching Jay panic would be fun—

What the— _no!_ Lloyd mentally reeled, horrified at himself. He’d _never_ do that to Jay!

Quickly he shoved the stuffed animal back under its box, but even as he did the temptation to do the other thing was still there.

 _What is_ wrong _with me?_ Lloyd thought. He straightened, looking up at himself in the mirror—

He yelped, stumbling backwards.

His eyes were _red_.


	4. Chapter 4

All Lloyd could do was stare. Blood-red eyes stared back, and after a moment Lloyd realized with a jolt that they were _glowing_ slightly. 

They looked just like Dad’s had. Back—back when he’d been under the venom’s influence. Back when he’d been _evil_.

Lloyd’s gaze dropped to the second drawer, the urge to take the stuffed animal resurfacing. Excitement bloomed in his chest at the prospect of seeing Jay panicking, maybe even getting to see him _cry_ —

“ _No!_ ” Lloyd pressed his fists against his eyes. “Stop it— _stop it_ —” He was _not_ going to hurt Jay— _why_ did he want to hurt Jay?

There was a loud _crack_ and Lloyd flinched.

Slowly, the urge faded. When it was finally gone, Lloyd took a shaky breath, carefully lowering his hands. 

After a long moment he hesitantly looked back up at himself. His eyes were green again, jaggedly reflected back at him by the mirror that was now cracked in two.

There was a rap on the door and Lloyd jumped, yelping. 

“Lloyd, is that you?” Kai asked, his voice muffled by the door. “Are you okay?” 

Lloyd tried to respond, but his words got stuck in his throat. _Was_ he okay?

What was _happening?_

“Lloyd?” Kai asked again, sounding worried. The doorknob twisted, then Kai was stepping into the room. He was wearing his pajamas, his usually spiky hair flattened messily against his head.

Kai’s eyes went wide. “Woah, hey.” He stepped forward. Lloyd made a startled noise as Kai pulled him into a hug.

“Breathe, Lloyd,” Kai said softly.

Lloyd blinked. Oh. He was hyperventilating. That was probably why it’d gotten harder to think.

“Breathe,” Kai said again.

Lloyd forced himself to take a deep breath—in through the nose, like uncle Wu had taught him—but he started coughing when his chest hitched.

“Easy there,” Kai murmured. “You’re safe, green bean. You’re safe.”

Lloyd buried his face in Kai’s chest.

After Lloyd didn’t know how long—it felt like forever—he finally managed to calm himself down. He’d closed his eyes at some point, and now he sagged slightly, relaxing in his big brother’s arms.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Kai asked softly.

Lloyd hesitated. “I thought—” his voice cracked, so he tried again, “I thought that . . . I . . .” It sounded weird in his head, which meant that it was going to sound silly saying it out loud. After all, he probably just needed to get some sleep. He had to have imagined it, right?

Kai simply waited.

“My eyes,” Lloyd finally whispered. “They were red. Like—like Dad’s, before . . .”

Admitting it out loud brought a new pain, because now he was thinking about Dad.

Dad, who’d he’d never see again.

Kai hugged him a little tighter. “I’m sorry, kiddo. You . . . you don’t deserve any of the crap you’ve been put through.”

 _Look, he thinks so too._ The strange his-but-not voice in the back of his mind whispered.

Lloyd stiffened.

“Lloyd?” Kai asked.

“Nothing—I—it’s nothing.” Lloyd forced himself to pull out of Kai’s hug, looking up at him. He was obviously worried, frowning slightly with his brow furrowed.

“Hey,” Kai said, gripping Lloyd’s shoulder. “Just remember, for everyone who hasn’t been bitten by a magic demon-snake, evil is a _choice_.”

Lloyd half-heartedly rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I know.” Contrary to his words, gratitude bloomed in his chest.

“I’m just sayin’, there’s no need to stress about going bad, kiddo. It’s not gonna happen—well, unless you have plans I don’t know about.”

Lloyd snorted. “No, I don’t.”

“Good,” Kai said. He shifted so that he was standing next to Lloyd, throwing his arm over Lloyd’s shoulders. “Let’s keep it that way.”

Lloyd barked out a soft laugh. “Trust me, I’m certainly intending to.”

Kai smirked at him. “You’d better. _Now_ , let’s go get some sleep and pray to the first spinjitzu master that sensei doesn’t make us do sunrise exercises in an hour.”

Lloyd groaned. “It’s _that_ late?”

“Yup.”

“I'm gonna die tomorrow.”

“Oh, most definitely.”

*****

Kai sat cross-legged on his bed, leaning against the wall as he watched his little brother. The kid had taken almost twenty minutes to fall asleep, tossing and turning and letting out a muffled groan into his pillow once before he’d finally nodded off. The room was quieter without his shifting, the only sound besides the creaks of the _Bounty_ some sort of vibrating coming from the general direction of Cole’s and Zane’s bunks (Kai couldn’t tell if Cole was snoring or if one of Zane’s new systems was acting up again). 

Lloyd was sleeping peacefully now, though—at least Kai hoped it was peaceful—which meant that Kai should really try to get some sleep too.

Kai flopped down on his pillow, sprawling across his still-made bed. He closed his eyes, but after several moments that probably weren’t actually as long as they felt like, he opened them again, huffing out a sigh. He didn’t feel even _remotely_ tired.

Kai rolled onto his side, digging his phone out from under his pillow and disconnecting it from the charging cord. The first thing he did when he turned it on was turn the brightness down, quickly followed by double-checking to make sure that it was muted. After that, he opened his texting app, scrolling to his chat with Nation.

**Hi**

He only had to wait for a couple seconds for the response.

**Insomnia again, Kai?**

Kai rolled his eyes.

**I was asleep before**

**Nightmare?**

**No**

Kai hesitated, then mentally shrugged. 

**Lloyd had a panic attack**

**Ouch. Is he alright?**

**I think so**

**I'm worried about him though**

**He cracked the mirror**

**With his powers, I mean**

**Oof.**

**He's sleeping now**

**That's good.**

**How are you doing?**

**I haven’t relapsed, if that’s what you’re asking**

**I wasn’t asking about that specifically, but good to know.**

Kai sighed.

**I’m the same as last night**

**You could at least try the sleeping pills, you know. You’re going to start dozing off on missions if you don’t get enough sleep.**

**Not on missions, too much adrenaline**

**During training, then.**

**Was there a specific reason you texted me?**

**You’re the only on up so early**

***one**

**Is it early or is it late?**

**Shut up**

**I refuse :)**

**Okay, emoticons are gross. Just use emojis**

**I’m an immortal that your sensei enlisted to be your sobriety counsellor, just be glad that I actually know how to text.**

**:)**

**Seriously though, you should try to get more sleep.**

**Whatever you say, mom**

**Call me that again and you’d better get me chocolate on Mother’s Day.**

Kai smothered a laugh with his fist.

**Seriously though, I can’t actually believe you’re immortal you look my age**

**And act it**

**When you’re not being a therapist, anyway**

***sobriety counsellor**

**Put simply, when you live forever and don’t physically age, acting old and wise all of the time is boring as heck.**

**. . . That actually makes sense**

**Glad you understand.**

**Try to get some more sleep, Kai.**

**Goodnight [crescent_moon.emoji]**

Kai turned off his phone; once Nation had sent the moon, it meant that she wasn’t going to answer anything else.

Kai glanced over at the alarm clock, freshly repaired from Lloyd blasting it for them in the morning a week or so ago. There were only thirty minutes left if sunrise exercise happened, though there’d be two more hours than that if it didn’t.

Kai glanced over at Lloyd one last time before he buried his face in his pillow, starting to count his breaths. Hopefully sensei would be merciful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nation (aka my OC) is only gonna be in the background if anyone was wondering  
> Pls tell me if the format I used for texts is too weird


	5. Chapter 5

Uncle Wu didn’t force them to get up for sunrise exercise—thank grandfather—but Lloyd still felt like he was dead on his feet. Uncle Wu _did_ still make them train, though, which meant that he had accumulated quite the variety of bruises after a few hours. His brothers were pulling their punches for him (Kai was wearing his leather bracelet that was accented with green beads—he had one for each of them; it was the agreed-on sign if someone needed a break without letting sensei know), but he was just too tired to fight properly.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Kai finally said, dropping his stance as Lloyd climbed to his feet after being flipped onto his back for the dozenth time. He pulled his mask off of his head, carding his fingers through his hair to return it to its usual spikes.

“I’m _fine_ , Kai,” Lloyd protested. He still needed to train, tired or not—evil never rests.

Kai leveled a look at him that clearly said _Liar_ , then glanced over at Zane and Cole, who were more or less engaged in a wrestling match on the mat a few feet over. Zane currently had the upper hand, pinning Cole’s torso to the ground with his knee as they grappled arms. Cole growled in frustration as Zane forced his arms backwards—Zane’s titanium body was _much_ stronger than his old one, and Cole hadn’t exactly been training before the Tournament. Lloyd could practically see Zane smirking through his mask.

“Lloyd!”

“What?” Lloyd asked, startled.

Kai snorted. “Yeah, you’re definitely out of it.”

“I am _not_ ,” Lloyd insisted.

Kai raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms over his chest. “How many times did I call your name?”

“Uh . . .” Lloyd had only heard him once. “Twice?” he tentatively guessed.

Kai held up four fingers.

Oh. Whoops.

“Maybe you should take a nap,” Jay suggested. 

Lloyd jumped, spinning. “ _Grandfather_ —”

Jay was standing right behind him, and now he snorted out a laugh. 

“Are we switching?” Zane asked, brushing off his gi as he stepped away from Cole.

Cole groaned, slowly climbing to his feet. “Please tell me we’re switching, I’m done being humiliated.”

“I say we’re done,” Kai said. “Yesterday was rough, we deserve a break.”

Lloyd sagged a little at that. Yesterday was supposed to have _been_ the break.

“I agree—and this is excellent timing, as it is about time to take Lloyd’s cake out of the oven,” Zane said cheerfully.

Lloyd blinked. “What did you just say?”

His brothers were all smiling now, Jay bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“C’mon, green bean,” Kai said, grabbing his wrist. Then Lloyd was being dragged out of the training room, through the hallways and all the way to the kitchen.

Just as he was shoved through the kitchen door, everyone shouted “Surprise!”

Lloyd staggered, grabbing the counter to steady himself—and blinked in surprise as he looked around. Almost every surface was covered in balloons and streamers and a pile of brightly wrapped presents sat in the center of the counter, surrounded by bowls of candy. A bowl of bright green frosting was on the counter next to the oven, waiting for the timer on the oven to finish counting down. Nya was perched on one of the high stools, wearing a party hat and grinning.

Was this . . . all for him?

His eyes started stinging, and he pressed a hand to his mouth to stifle a sob that forced its way up his throat.

“Oh, no, Lloyd—don’t cry!” Jay exclaimed. “I’m sorry, is it too much—”

“No,” Lloyd choked out. “It’s—this is all for me?”

“All for you,” Nya confirmed, rounding the counter.

“We figured since we didn’t really get to celebrate your birthday yesterday, we’d do it today,” Cole said.

“Oh.” Lloyd couldn’t think of anything else to say, too busy drinking everything in. The timer went off and Zane got the cake— _cakes_ , there were three cakes in round tins—out of the oven, setting them on the cooling racks Cole got out for him.

Someone hugged Lloyd from behind.

“Happy birthday, green bean,” Kai said in Lloyd’s ear. Lloyd could hear the smile in his voice. Then Kai let go, switching to ruffling Lloyd’s hair. Lloyd squawked, ducking away as his siblings laughed.

“But, when did you manage to do all of this?” Lloyd asked once he was safely on the opposite side of the counter from Kai. “We’ve all been training all morning.”

“I haven’t,” Nya corrected. Lloyd nodded at her, acknowledging that, but still—she couldn’t have done this alone.

“There’s five of us,” Cole said in amusement.

Lloyd blinked at him, not understanding.

Jay exaggeratedly sighed. “We’ve been sparring in pairs, Lloyd,” he explained happily.

“Did you really not notice the odd one out leaving the room every time we switched?” Zane asked, amused.

They’d— _oh_. No, Lloyd hadn’t noticed. He blushed, and his siblings sniggered.

“Yeah, you definitely need to get some more sleep at some point,” Kai said.

There was a pause in the conversation, so Zane said, “It will take me a few minutes to construct the cake if you’d like to get changed into your casuals, Lloyd.”

Lloyd glanced down at himself. Right, he was still in his gi.

“Then we can party!” Jay cheered.

Nya suddenly darted towards him, slipping the band of a party hat under his chin. Lloyd flinched as it briefly stung his skin, but Nya simply grinned at him. She leaned in close. “Everyone has to wear one if you do,” she quickly whispered. “And I know for a fact that Kai _hates_ them.”

Lloyd snickered. 

“Uh, Nya?” Cole asked. “What are you—”

He was cut off by Kai groaning. “Really, Nya?”

“Yep!” Nya said lightly, bounding away. “Here’s one for you, Zane!” She slipped a party hat on Zane’s head.

“What’s happening?” Jay asked, looking between them.

“We all have to wear the hats as long as Lloyd is wearing one,” Kai grumbled.

“It’s a birthday rule!” Nya added brightly, holding out a party hat to Cole.

“A birthday rule?” Cole asked, taking the hat.

“I was not aware that birthdays had rules,” Zane said.

“Sure they do! Like how you have to have a cake, and have candles on said cake, and that the birthday person has to make a wish before they blow out the candles,” Nya said.

“But those are customs, not rules,” Zane said.

“With Nya, they’re rules,” Kai said flatly as Nya shoved a hat into his hands. “Though she hasn’t enforced them since she was eleven.”

“Twelve, thank you very much.”

“What happens if we don’t follow the rules?” Jay asked as he accepted the last hat.

Kai shuddered. “You _don’t_ want to know.”

Jay’s eyes went wide and he shoved the hat onto his head. Combined with Kai’s expression of absolute disgust and Cole’s somewhat confused but alarmed expression, the scene before Lloyd was _priceless_. He giggled, but when Kai glared at him the giggles turned into full-blown laughter.


	6. Chapter 6

_Lloyd was hanging from the pole again. He hadn’t looked back as he’d run from the red-eyed shadows this time, but he’d still slipped, not quite making the jump. Now the shadows had caught up, prowling around him just as they had before._

_How did Lloyd keep ending up in this situation?_

_“Do you really not know?” one of the shadows hissed._

_“You really are useless,” another snarled._

_“Weak.”_

_“Soft.”_

_“Worthless.”_

_Lloyd couldn’t stop himself from flinching at the last one—which made his fingers slip. Terror stabbed through his chest as he held his breath._

_“You could be strong, though.”_

_“Powerful.”_

_“Unstoppable.”_

_“Never,” Lloyd bit out, stopping the next shadow from adding to the list. “I’ll_ never _choose to go with you.”_

_A twisted, guttural sound burst from each of the shadows. Lloyd screwed his eyes shut against the harsh sound._

_Were they . . . laughing?_

_“So defiant,” one of the shadows crooned mockingly._

_One of the shadows leapt to pole Lloyd was hanging from. Lloyd glared up at it, trying to ignore how loudly his heart was pounding in his ears._

_“You’ll choose to be strong soon enough,” the shadow over him said. Lloyd could hear the confidence in its voice, but looking up at its burning red eyes, he couldn’t make out any emotion at all._

_“And why would I do that?” Lloyd countered._

_The shadow crouched, staring down at him. Its eyes flared. “It’s your nature. Even you can’t deny your own blood.”_

_A chill ran down Lloyd’s spine—then he lost his hold, and he was falling into the dark._

*****

Lloyd jolted awake, his chest heaving as he bolted upright. Jay yelped, falling off the other end of the couch with a _thud_.

“Woah—you okay, Lloyd?” Cole asked, looking up at him from where he was sitting on the ground with concern. Lloyd stared at him, confused.

Oh. He’d fallen asleep.

Slowly, the fear started to fade. Lloyd tried to remember what he’d been dreaming about, but he came up empty, which for some reason left him feeling unsettled.

“Lloyd?” Jay asked, cautiously climbing back onto the couch. 

“Uh—fine,” Lloyd managed. “I’m fine. Just a nightmare. Sorry—sorry to startle you.”

“You wanna talk about it?” Cole asked.

Lloyd shook his head, pushing himself up. “I don’t really remember it, anyways,” he said as he stood. He glanced at the TV—the game Cole and Jay were playing was paused. Lloyd noticed that his own character was missing, realizing that they’d probably removed him when he’d fallen asleep.

“We saved your stats,” Jay told him. “We can add you back in, if you want.”

Lloyd considered. “Nah,” he decided. “I’m going to go get some fresh air.”

“Are you sure you’re alright, Lloyd?” Cole pressed.

Lloyd flashed him a smile, hoping that it looked more sincere than it felt. “I’m fine.”

Cole looked unconvinced, but he returned his attention to the game, unpausing it. Almost instantly, he and Jay were bickering about the location of the shortcut on the level they were in.

Lloyd laughed a little as Jay called Cole a “useless stalagmite”, then slipped into the hallway. 

Waking up from nightmares was always weird, and this time wasn’t any different. Lloyd felt . . . off, slightly unbalanced. He tried to shake the feeling off as he made his way up to the deck.

It was _windy_. Lloyd shivered as he stepped out onto the deck, closing the door behind him before he zipped up his jacket. Why were autumn winds always so cold?

“Hey, green bean! Birthday boy!”

Lloyd looked up to find that both Kai was hanging from the rigging—quite literally. He was dangling upside down by his ankle.

“A little help?” Kai called.

Lloyd let out a startled laugh. “What are you doing up there?” he called, jogging towards the side of the _Bounty_. 

“So, funny story,” Kai said as Lloyd started scaling the rigging, “I hid one of my presents for you in the crow’s nest a week or so ago, and apparently Nya knew about that because I just got caught in one of her booby traps.”

Lloyd paused, glancing at him incredulously. “She’s getting you back already? The day isn’t even over.”

Kai grumbled something that Lloyd couldn’t make out, but Lloyd understood the general gist and snorted. He scaled the last few yards, situating himself above Kai. He scanned the ropes, noting with amusement how expertly Nya had woven her booby trap into the rigging.

“You brought this on yourself,” Lloyd chastised as he started loosening one of the ropes.

“It’s not my fault that all the party hats started on fire!” Kai protested.

Lloyd looked down at him, giving him the flattest expression he was capable of. Kai rolled his eyes, folding his arms as he faux-pouted.

Lloyd finished detangling a long section of rope and dropped it down to hang next to Kai. His older brother let out a startled yelp as it smacked his head, swinging in the wind.

“What was that for?”

“You might want to hold on,” Lloyd called back. He only gave Kai enough time to squawk in alarm before he pulled the correct rope to release his foot.

Kai fell, righting suddenly as he clung to the rope. He hung there for a moment, looking stunned, then shot a glare up at Lloyd.

“You’re welcome,” Lloyd said cheerfully.

“Yeah, yeah . . .” Kai scaled the rope, pulling himself up onto the rigging next to Lloyd. “Thanks, green bean.”

They sat there in silence for a moment, the only sound the wind whistling through the ropes. The sky was clear, the sun not quite low enough to call it sunset but getting close. Ninjago City was down below, sprawled over most of what Lloyd could see. He swore that the city got bigger every time he stopped to look at it, which could very well be a possibility—despite the disasters it had gone through in the last few years, it was still the fastest-growing city in the world. From so high up, the only building Lloyd could pick out was Borg Tower, still standing in the center of the city.

“Well,” Kai finally said, “I should probably get your present now.” He started climbing towards the crow’s nest, and after a moment Lloyd followed him, warmth blossoming in his chest. His siblings had been celebrating his birthday all day—even though it wasn’t actually his birthday—and yet they _still_ kept producing more things to make the day even better.

Lloyd pulled himself into the crow’s nest. Kai was kneeling on the other side, a smirk on his face and obviously holding something behind his back. Then, with his usual decorum, he said “Happy Birthday, green bean,”—and chucked the present at Lloyd’s face.

Lloyd squeaked, years of reflexes kicking in to catch whatever it was. The first thing he registered was that it was dark and soft.

It was a hoodie. A black hoodie that was accented with stripes of green so dark that you could barely make out that they were there at all.

“I know black’s not really your thing anymore, but it reminded me of you,” Kai said. “I also figured, y’know, that it might be nice to have something to wear that doesn’t scream “green ninja” quite so much when we go out in public.”

Lloyd could only stare, tracing the hidden patterns with his eyes. After a moment he looked up at Kai—and realized that his brother was holding his breath, waiting for Lloyd’s response.

“Kai—I _love_ it,” Lloyd burst out. Kai relaxed, a smile creeping onto his face. “It’s beautiful.”

“Glad you think so, green bean,” Kai replied. “I’d be a pretty crappy brother if I got you a birthday present you didn’t like.”

Lloyd smiled. “I think it’s my favorite present,” he said, hugging the hoodie to his chest.

Kai’s eyebrows raised. “Better than the comic set Jay got you?”

“Yep,” Lloyd confirmed.

Kai leaned forward to ruffle Lloyd’s hair. Lloyd let him.

“Happy Birthday, kiddo.”


	7. Chapter 7

Lloyd muttered under his breath as he dug through his basket, trying to decide what to put back. There weren’t a ton of options, and while the most obvious choice was to reshelve some of the candy he’d picked out for himself, he _really_ didn’t want to. The last week and a half had been a disaster—it had turned out that the bank robbers that they’d stopped on his birthday were part of a _much_ bigger crime ring, and they weren’t happy that one of their operations had gone wrong. They’d been robbing everything from banks to mom-and-dad shops, always armed and unafraid to shoot. The city was in a panic. Nobody was going anywhere out of fear of getting shot, and the businesses that hadn’t closed had jacked up their prices so that they could still make a profit from the few customers brave enough to venture out. Combine that last bit with the additional fact that the ninja never really had a ton of money anyway, and all of the sudden Lloyd couldn’t pay for basic groceries—and he wasn’t even trying to _get_ a lot. Mostly just painkillers and granola bars and such, things they’d need to keep up the constant patrols throughout the city.

Plus the candy.

“Excuse me.”

Lloyd sighed as he moved out of the way so the guy could reach what he wanted. The guy muttered his thanks and moved on. Lloyd eyed his packed-to-brimming cart before returning his attention to his own basket. At least the guy hadn’t recognized him. The press had been blaming the ninja for having not stopped the robbers already, and the public was becoming less . . . _friendly_ towards them as a result. As if they weren’t constantly putting themselves on the front line to protect them.

Lloyd wished that he could pull his hood up to minimize the chance that he would be recognized, but he’d learned a long time ago that it wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do in a store. No matter how honest his actions were, the employees _always_ thought he was up to something, and as much as Lloyd loved his new hoodie the fact that it was basically black probably didn’t help.

Lloyd looked over each of the items again. He was honestly just stalling at this point, which he really shouldn’t be doing as it was almost time for him to take another patrol shift. Kai, Jay and Nya had to almost be dead on their feet by now, having been out for almost twelve hours while the rest of them slept. 

The candy had to go back. It was the only non-essential item in the basket, and he couldn’t pay for all of it. He’d _really_ been looking forward to it, though—it was the first bit of actual comfort he was going to have had for over a week.

Lloyd picked up the bag of candy, trying to remember which aisle he’d gotten it from.

_I could just take it._

Lloyd blinked at the thought. Technically, he could—he was more than skilled enough to sneak it out without getting caught. He shouldn’t, though—of _course_ he shouldn’t. Stealing was wrong. 

_But I deserve it._

Lloyd’s grip on the bag tightened.

No, he . . . stealing was wrong.

_Exactly._

Slowly, Lloyd put the candy back in the basket.

Lloyd’s phone went off. He jumped, biting out a curse as he dug it out of his pocket.

“Yeah?” he asked as he answered.

“Lloyd, where are you?” Nya’s exhausted voice came through the line. “You were supposed to relieve me almost ten minutes ago.”

Lloyd silently swore. He looked at the giant clock on the wall of the store that he’d been using to keep track of time, checking it against the time on his phone—it was almost twenty minutes behind. 

“Sorry, the clock in here is slow, I lost track of time.”

“In here?” Nya questioned.

“Groceries.”

“Ah. Well, be quick. I’m not sure how much longer I can stay awake.”

“I’ll be there in ten.” Lloyd hung up, slipping the phone into his pocket. He glanced at his basket—

And froze.

Had he . . . just been about to _steal_ a bag of candy?

Lloyd swallowed dryly. He forced himself into motion, jogging towards the candy aisle, but his mind was spinning. He’d _never_ stolen, not even when he’d been living on the streets after getting kicked out from Darkely’s. Sure, he knew how to, but something inside him had kept him from crossing that line.

So why had he . . . ?

Lloyd thought back. The way that the thought had popped into his head had felt weird, almost as if someone else had put it there. So it’d been an intrusive thought, those were normal . . . but intrusive thoughts didn’t explain what had followed.

He had _wanted_ to steal it.

He’d wanted to steal it _because_ it was a bad thing to do.

Lloyd froze in the middle of the aisle.

No, he had to be wrong. He’d _never_ want to do something bad—it just wasn’t who he was. He didn’t like doing bad things, he’d _never_ liked it—that’s why he’d gotten kicked out of Darkley’s. 

And yet he’d _wanted to steal it_.

Lloyd ran a hand down his face, looking around him. The aisle was empty. His breathing was faster than it should have been, and he forced himself to even it out—he was _not_ going to have a panic attack in the middle of a grocery store.

Lloyd focused on finding where the candy went, deliberately _not_ thinking about anything else. It took him a minute, but he found it, shoving the bag of candy back on the shelf with probably a little more force than was necessary. Then he switched gears, heading for the checkout.

This was probably just some sort of freak result from stress. Lloyd knew that his mental health wasn’t exactly the greatest—

Lloyd came to a stop as deja vu slammed him in the face. Or maybe not deja vu, because memories were coming with it—

_—an urge to hurt, to cause pain, overwhelming and terrifying—a crack in the mirror—red eyes reflecting back at him—_

Lloyd gasped, staggering. He grabbed a shelf to keep himself upright, his chest heaving.

That . . . what had happened that night hadn’t been some sort of hallucination because he’d been sleep-deprived, had it? It’d been _real_. Which meant—

What _did_ it mean?

Wait.

Oh, _no_.

Grandfather, _please_ no.

 _“An urge to do evil that I couldn’t control, overwhelming my natural thought and instinct. The impulses felt as if they were my own, but I knew they weren’t. They were from the poison flowing through my veins.”_ That was how Dad had described the venom, when Lloyd had asked.

That was what Lloyd had just _felt_.

But it _wasn’t possible_. Lloyd had never been bitten—

Except . . . he was _Lord Garmadon’s son_. Dad had had the venom running through him for centuries before he met Mom. Had—had Lloyd _inherited_ some of it? But if he had, why had it taken so long to show up—

 _“We need to make sure that_ all _of it has been properly dealt with,” Mom said, looking up at them. “Even the smallest drop corrupts—it just takes longer to do so.”_

Lloyd swore, sinking to his knees. What was he going to _do?_ If he was right—he had to be right, there was no other explanation for what was happening to him—then he was being _corrupted_. He didn’t have the golden power anymore, so he couldn’t purify himself— _why_ hadn’t he already been purified, he’d been a freaking _conduit_ for the gold—and there wasn’t any other way to get rid of the venom.

Lloyd’s phone chimed. Habitually Lloyd pulled it out, blinking at the screen through tears. It was a text from Nya: **???**

Lloyd unlocked his phone.

**On my way**

He’d deal with this later. It wasn’t like he was full-out evil yet, he still had time. It’d taken Dad _centuries_ to fall to the venom, and he’d gotten an entire bite.

Lloyd swore again, pushing himself to his feet. He was gonna figure this out. He _had_ to figure this out.

Just not right now. He had a city to protect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! ❤️


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